The latest on California politics and government

February 3, 2011

In honor of Chinese New Year, the Assembly distributed a paper flier to members Thursday honoring the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar and listing 1938, the year of Gov. Jerry Brown's birth, as a "Year of the Tiger."

Brown is honest, strong, spirited, rebellious, brave and dynamic, according to the flier, provided by the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Council.

The Democratic governor shares those traits with Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton and Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway, both of whom were born in 1950, another "tigerish" year.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's birthdate is in 1969 -- five months after Brown celebrated his 31st birthday -- and he is listed as confident, precise, candid and optimistic within the "Year of the Rooster."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg was born in 1959, a "Year of the Boar," and he is happy, gallant, reliable, courageous and generous, suggested the flier, which did not indicate whether it was printed by a Democrat or Republican.

In keeping with Chinese New Year, Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento presented Pérez with a drawing of a koi, honored in folklore for swimming against the current.

Symbolic? Indeed.

"We hope, like the koi, we will overcome our fiscal difficulties and bring jobs and abundance to the people of California," Pan said.